surveyed and distances
marked by means of mile-stones, many of which are still found on the
road which led from Ecbatana to Babylon. These roads crossed the wildest
regions of that great monarchy. They connected the cities of Ionia with
Sardes in Lydia, with Babylon and with the royal city of Susa; they led
from Syria into Mesopotamia, from Ecbatana to Persepolis, from Armenia
into Southern Persia, and thence to Bactria and India.

The Chinese commenced road-building long before the Christian era. They
graded the roadway and then covered the whole with hewn blocks of stone,
carefully jointed and cemented together so that the entire surface
presented a perfectly smooth plane. Such roads, although very costly to
build, are almost indestructible by time. In China, as well as in
several other countries of Asia, the executive power has always charged
itself with both the construction and maintenance of roads and navigable
canals. In the instructions which are given to the governors of the
various provinces these objects, it is said, are constantly commanded to
them, and the judgment which the court forms of the conduct of each is
very much regulated by the attention which he appears to have paid to
this part of his instructions. This solicitude of the sovereign for the
internal thoroughfares is easily accounted for when it is considered
that his revenue arises almost entirely from a land-tax, or rent, which
rises and falls with the increase and decrease of the annual produce of
the land. The greatest interest of the sovereign, his revenue, is
therefore directly connected with the cultivation of the land, with the
extent of its produce and its value. But in order to render that produce
as great and as valuable as possible, it is necessary to procure for it
as extensive a market as possible, and, consequently, to establish the
freest, the easiest and the least expensive communication between all
the different parts of the country, which can be done only by means of
the best roads and the best navigable canals.

In Africa the Egyptians and Carthaginians are the only nations of
antiquity of which we have much historic knowledge. The former kept up a
very active commerce not only with the south, but also with the tribes
of Lydia on the west and with Palestine and the adjoining countries on
the east. To facilitate commerce, they constructed and maintained a
number of excellent highways leading in all directions. One of the most